Component with cladding surface and method of applying same

ABSTRACT

A slurry pump component is disclosed. The slurry pump component may have a base member fabricated from white iron, and a cladding surface made of a wear resistant material disposed in a tool steel matrix on the base member. The wear resistant material may have a melting point of greater than about 3000° C.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to a component and, moreparticularly, to a component having a cladding surface and a method ofapplying same.

BACKGROUND

Commercial slurry pumps contain internal components that are subject toabrasive and erosive wear from interactions between slurry solids andsurfaces of the pump components. Over time, the surfaces of the pumpcomponents can wear out. In some instances, the surfaces of thecomponents develop gouges from abrasive and erosive interactions withthe slurry. To extend the useful life of the slurry pump components,some surfaces of the pump components are coated with wear resistantmaterials.

Typical wear resistant materials are applied through a cladding process.For example, tungsten carbide disposed in a nickel matrix is clad onsurfaces of slurry pump components. Although suitable for someapplications, the tungsten carbide in a nickel matrix may not besufficiently durable for use in all slurry applications.

The manufacturing process of the present disclosure solves one or moreof the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, the present disclosure is related to a slurry pumpcomponent. The slurry pump component may include a base memberfabricated from White iron. The base member may have a cladding surfacemade of a wear resistant material disposed in a tool steel matrix. Thewear resistant material may have a melting point of greater than about3000° C.

In another aspect, the present disclosure is related to a method ofmanufacturing a slurry pump component. The method may include lasercladding a base member fabricated from white iron with a claddingmaterial. The cladding material may have a wear resistant material and atool steel matrix. The wear resistant material may have a melting pointgreater than about 3000° C.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view pictorial illustration of an exemplarydisclosed slurry pump;

FIG. 2 is a pictorial illustration of an exemplary disclosed throat bushthat may be used in conjunction with the slurry pump of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another pictorial illustration of the throat bush of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional illustration of the throat bush of FIG. 2and FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a pictorial illustration of an exemplary disclosed frame plateliner that may be used in conjunction with the slurry pump of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a pictorial illustration of an exemplary disclosed impellerthat may be used in conjunction with the slurry pump of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is another pictorial illustration of the impeller of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a pictorial illustration of an exemplary disclosed volute thatmay be used in conjunction with the slurry pump of FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a pictorial illustration of an exemplary disclosedmanufacturing process that may be used to apply a surface material tocomponents of the slurry pump of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 10 is a pictorial illustration of an exemplary disclosedmulti-layer cladding surface that may be used in conjunction with theimpeller of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 and the volute of FIG. 8.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an exploded view of a slurry pump I according to thepresent disclosure. Slurry pump 1 may be used to pump slurries, ormixtures of a liquid and solids. For example, slurry pump 1 may be usedto transport mixtures of oil and sand. Slurry pump I may alternativelybe used in other large and small particle size transport processes.

Slurry pump 1 may include a suction plate 8, a cover plate 2, and aframe plate 3, which together may form a slurry pump housing. The slurrypump housing may be formed by mounting suction plate 8 to cover plate 2,and then mounting cover plate 2 to frame plate 3. Inside the slurry pumphousing, a throat bush 4 may mount to suction plate 8 at an inlet.Impeller 5 may mount to a shaft 10, which provides the rotational forceto move impeller 5. Impeller 5 may reside in a volute 6. As slurryenters throat bush 4 via an opening 11, it may flow into impeller 5 andbe pushed by centrifugal force through volute 6 to exit slurry pump 1through an opening 11 in volute 6. Frame plate liner 7 may he placedbetween volute 6 and frame plate 3, and a seal 43 may be placed betweenframe plate liner 7 and frame plate 3 to help keep slurry from leakingout of volute 6. A bearing assembly 9 may help to reduce frictionbetween shaft 10 and the pump housing while impeller 5 is rotating.

FIGS. 2-4 illustrate an exemplary throat bush 4 that may be used inslurry pump 1. Throat bush 4 may include a ring-like base 12 having aninner annular surface 13 and an outer annular surface 14. Throat bush 4may also include a cylindrical collar 15 extending away from ring-likebase 12. A plurality of radially distributed bores 16 may be formed inring-like base 12 and used to attach suction plate 8 to throat bush 4with fasteners (not shown),

Base 12 may include a conical end 17 located axially opposite collar 15.In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, an outer surface conical end 17may slope axially inward from the outer annular surface 14 to the innerannular surface 13, Collar 15 may be hollow and include an inner annularsurface 18, which may extend about 1 to 12 inches from inner annularsurface 13 along the length of an inner surface 19 of collar 15. Duringoperation of slurry pump 1, conical end 17 and inner annular surface 18may be subject to accelerated abrasion and erosion.

FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary frame plate liner 7 that may be used inslurry pump 1, In one embodiment, frame plate liner 7 may include aring-like base member 20 having an inner annular surface 21 and an outerannular surface 22. Base member 20 may also include an axial end 23 thatfaces volute 6 after assembly. During operation of slurry pump 1, axialend 23 may be subject to accelerated abrasion and erosion.

The slurry pump components may be formed from. durable materials. Forexample, throat bush 4, impeller 5, volute 6, and frame plate liner 7may be made of an iron or steel. in one embodiment, throat bush 4,impeller 5, volute 6, and frame plate liner 7 may be made of white iron.Conical end 17 and inner annular surface 18 of throat bush 4 and axialend 23 of frame plate liner 7 may be covered with a cladding surface tohelp reduce wear from abrasive and erosive interactions during operationof slurry pump 1. The cladding surface may include a wear resistantmaterial disposed in a tool steel matrix, in one embodiment, the wearresistant material may have a melting point greater than about 3000° C.and be made front at least one of titanium carbide, zirconium carbide,hafnium carbide, or titanium diboride. In another embodiment, the wearresistant material may be spherical or crushed titanium carbide, and bepresent in an amount between about 30 and 70 percent by volume, with theremainder being tool steel matrix. The wear resistant materialmorphology may be agglomerated, agglomerated and sintered, wateratomized, gas atomized, or mechanically coated (porously coated).

The tool steel matrix may include iron and one or more of carbon,manganese, chromium, cobalt, vanadium, tungsten, silicon, sulfur,nickel, or molybdenum. For example, the tool steel matrix may includeiron and a weight percent composition of about 1.6% carbon, about 0.3%manganese, about 4.0% chromium, about 5.0% cobalt, about 4.9% vanadium,about 12.00% tungsten, about 0.30% silicon, and about 0.06% sulfur.

As shown in FIG. 4, a thickness of the cladding surface at conical end17 of throat bush 4 may be greater adjacent to inner annular surface 13than adjacent to outer annular surface 14. In one embodiment, theconical surface end 17 may have a thickness of between about 4 and 12 mmin an area adjacent to inner annular surface 13 and between about 2 and8 mm in an area adjacent to outer annular surface 14. The thickness ofthe cladding surface covering inner annular surface 18 of collar 15 maybe between about 2 and 8 mm. Referring to FIG. 5, the cladding surfacecovering axial end 23 of frame plate liner 7 may have a thickness ofbetween about 2 and 12 mm.

FIGS. 6-7 illustrate an exemplary impeller 5 that may be used in slurrypump 1. In one embodiment, impeller 5 may include a first plate 26 and asecond plate 27 spaced apart and generally parallel to first plate 26.Impeller 5 may further include blades 28 that join and support firstplate 26 and second plate 27. A plurality of fins 29 may extend fromfirst plate 26 away from second plate 27, in one embodiment, a pluralityof fins (not shown) may also extend from second plate 27 away from firstplate 26. Impeller 5 may also include a circular opening 30 in a generalcenter of first plate 26, which may be aligned with opening 11 of throatbush 4 (FIG. 2). As slurry passes through throat bush 4, it may firstenter impeller 5 through circular opening 30, and pass into an impellercavity 31. The slurry may then be pushed through a blade opening 32 tothe outside of impeller 5 When impeller 5 rotates during operation. Ashaft mount 33 may extend from second plate 27 away from first plate 26and connect to shaft 10 (FIG. 1).

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary volute 6 that may be used in slurry pump1. In one embodiment, volute 6 may include a hollow ring 34 with an openinner radius 35. A hollow cylindrical member 36 may be attached to andextend radially outward from hollow ring 34. The insides of hollow ring34 and hollow cylindrical member 36 may form an inner cavity 37.

All surfaces of impeller 5 and the surface of inner cavity 37 of volute6 may be covered with a cladding surface 38 to help reduce wear fromabrasive and erosive interactions during operation of slurry pump 1. Thecladding surface 38 may be multi-layer to inhibit cracking of the basematerial and help reduce failure of the slurry pump I from centrifugalstress. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the cladding surface mayinclude a brazing alloy layer 44, a ductile intermediate layer 45, anda. wear resistant layer 46. Brazing alloy layer 44 may cover a basemember surface 47 and ductile intermediate layer 45 may be situatedbetween brazing alloy layer 44 and wear resistant layer 46. Wearresistant layer 46 may be the outer-most layer of the cladding surface.

in one embodiment, brazing alloy layer 44 may include one or more metalsselected from the group consisting of copper, gold, lead, manganese,nickel, phosphorus, silver and tin, and have a melting point of lessthan 700° C. In another embodiment, ductile intermediate layer 45 mayinclude iron and one or more elements selected from the group consistingof carbon, chromium, copper, magnesium, manganese, nickel, phosphorusand sulfur. In an alternative embodiment, ductile intermediate layer 45may include a nickel based alloy with a weight composition of about 0 to30% chromium, 0 to 3% manganese, 0 to 30% molybdenum, 0 to 40% copper; 0to 40% iron, and a balance of nickel.

Wear resistant layer 46 may include a wear resistant material disposedin a metal matrix. In one embodiment, the wear resistant material mayinclude at least one of tungsten carbide, titanium carbide, zirconiumcarbide, hafnium carbide, or titanium diboride. The wear resistantmaterial may be spherical or crushed titanium carbide. in anotherembodiment, the wear resistant material morphology may be agglomerated,agglomerated and sintered, water atomized, gas atomized, or mechanicallycoated (porously coated).

In another embodiment, wear resistant layer 46 may include a nickel ortool steel matrix. The tool steel matrix may include iron and one ormore of carbon, manganese, chromium, cobalt, vanadium, tungsten,silicon, sulfur, nickel, or molybdenum. In another embodiment, titaniumcarbide may be present in an amount between about 30 and 70 percent byvolume, with the remainder being tool steel matrix. The tool steelmatrix may include iron with a weight percent composition of about 1.6%carbon, about 0.3% manganese, about 4.0% chromium, about 5.0% cobalt,about 4.9% vanadium, about 12.00% tungsten, about 0.30% silicon, andabout 0.06% sulfur. In another embodiment, the nickel based matrix mayinclude nickel with one or more of chromium, silicon, or boron. Each ofbrazing alloy layer 44, ductile intermediate layer 45, and wearresistant layer 46 may have a thickness of between about 0.2 mm and 6mm.

FIG. 9 shows an exemplary laser cladding apparatus 39 including an arm40 connected to a cladding head 41. Cladding head 41 may be adapted todeliver a laser beam through a chamber defined inside cladding head 41and is coupled to a laser energy source (not shown). A nozzle 42delivers cladding powder in a carrier gas, and the laser beam melts thepowder to form a surface layer. In one embodiment, cladding apparatus 39includes a coaxial powder feed along a axis of the laser beam.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The disclosed components may have use in any slurry pump application orin any other similar application. The configurations of the disclosedcomponents may provide a number of benefits, including having increasedwear resistance and life. A process of manufacturing the wear resistantcomponents will now be described in detail.

The process of manufacturing throat bush 4 and frame plate liner 7 mayinclude laser cladding a base component with a tool steel matrix and atleast one of titanium carbide, zirconium carbide, hafnium carbide, ortitanium diboride. This process is shown generally in FIG. 9. Theprocess may include laser cladding conical surface end 17 between innerannular surface 13 and outer annular surface 14 of base 12. The processmay further include laser cladding inner annular surface 18. In oneembodiment, inner annular surface 18 may extend about 1 to 12 inchesfrom inner annular surface 13 of base 12 along the length of innersurface 19 of collar 15.

In one embodiment, the cladding powder may be delivered to nozzle 42 ofFIG. 9 at a powder feed rate of up to 6 kWh, and the laser cladding maybe performed at powers up to 1.5 kW and 5.0 kW using a carbon dioxide,Nd:YAG, disc, fiber, or diode laser. The process of manufacturing throatbush 4 may further include laser cladding conical end 17 with athickness of between 4 and 12 mm adjacent to inner annular surface 13(FIG. 4) and a thickness of between about 2 and 8 mm adjacent to outerannular surface 14.

The process of manufacturing impeller 5 and volute 6 may include usinglaser cladding apparatus 39 to form each of (referring to FIG. 10)brazing alloy layer 44, ductile intermediate layer 45, and wearresistant layer 46 by depositing a cladding powder under generally thesame process conditions described above. In one embodiment, thethickness of the cladding surface including the brazing alloy layer 44,ductile intermediate layer 45, and wear resistant layer 46 may bebetween about 6 and 18 mm.

The slurry pump component manufacturing process described above may beperformed to increase the wear resistance and life of the components.The slurry pump component manufacturing process may also help inhibitthe formation of cracks in the base material because the brazing alloyhas a low melting point, which lowers strain caused by heating andcooling of the base material. The presently described manufacturingprocess may be performed to protect slurry pump components from abrasiveand erosive interactions during operation and reduce the risk ofcatastrophic failure of the slurry pump.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made to the disclosed pumpcomponents without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Otherembodiments of the components will be apparent to those skilled in theart from consideration of the specification and practice of the pumpcomponents herein. It is intended that the specification and examples beconsidered as exemplary only, with a true scope of the disclosure beingindicated by the following claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A slurry pump component, comprising: a basemember fabricated from white iron; and a cladding surface on the basemember, wherein the cladding surface includes a wear resistant materialdisposed in a tool steel. matrix, and the wear resistant material has amelting point greater than about 3000° C.
 2. The component of claim 1,Wherein the slurry pump component is a throat bush, including: aring-like base with an inner annular surface and an outer annularsurface; a cylindrical collar extending away from the inner annularsurface of the ring-like base; and a conical end opposite thecylindrical collar, wherein the conical end slopes axially inward fromthe outer annular surface to the inner annular surface, wherein thecladding surface covers the conical end; and the cladding surface has athickness of between about 4 and 12 mm in an area adjacent to the innerannular surface and between about 2 and 8 mm in an area adjacent to theouter annular surface.
 3. The component of claim 2, wherein an innerannular surface of the cylindrical collar extends about 1 to 12 inchesfrom the inner annular surface of the ring-like base.
 4. The componentof claim 1, wherein: the slurry pump component is a frame plate liner,including a ring-like base member with an inner annular surface and anouter annular surface; the cladding surface covers an axial end betweenthe inner annular surface and the outer annular surface of the ring-likebase member on one side of the frame plate liner; and the claddingsurface has a thickness of between about 2 and 12 mm.
 5. The componentof claim 1, wherein the wear resistant material includes at least one oftitanium carbide, zirconium carbide, hafnium carbide, or titaniumdiboride.
 6. The component of claim 1, wherein the cladding surfaceincludes titanium carbide disposed in a tool steel matrix.
 7. Thecomponent of claim 6, wherein the titanium carbide is spherical orcrushed.
 8. The component of claim 1, wherein the tool steel matrixincludes iron and one or more of carbon, manganese, chromium, cobalt,vanadium, tungsten, silicon, sulfur, nickel, or molybdenum.
 9. Thecomponent of claim 1, wherein a morphology of the wear resistantmaterial is one of agglomerated, agglomerated and sintered, wateratomized, gas atomized, or mechanically coated.
 10. The component ofclaim 6, wherein the titanium carbide is present in an amount betweenabout 30 and 70 percent by volume with a remainder being tool steelmatrix.
 11. A method of manufacturing a slurry pump component,comprising: laser cladding a base member fabricated from white iron witha cladding material including a wear resistant material and a tool steelmatrix, wherein the wear resistant material has a melting point greaterthan about 3000° C.
 12. The method of manufacturing of claim 11, whereinthe slurry pump component is a throat bush; and laser cladding the basemember includes laser cladding a conical end between an inner annularsurface and an outer annular surface of a ring-like base on an oppositeside of a cylindrical collar extending away from the inner annularsurface of the ring-like base with a cladding thickness of between about4 and 12 mm in an area adjacent to the inner annular surface and betweenabout 2 and 8 mm in an area adjacent to the outer annular surface. 13.The method of manufacturing of claim 12, wherein laser cladding the basemember further includes laser cladding an inner annular surface of thecylindrical collar extending about 1 to 12 inches from the inner annularsurface of the ring-like base.
 14. The method of manufacturing of claim11, wherein the slurry pump component is a frame plate liner; and lasercladding the base member includes laser cladding an axial end between aninner annular area and an outer annular area of a ring-like member onone end of the frame plate liner.
 15. The method of manufacturing ofclaim 11, wherein the wear resistant material includes at least one oftitanium carbide, zirconium carbide, hafnium carbide, or titaniumdiboride.
 16. The method of manufacturing of claim 11, wherein thecladding material consists of titanium carbide and a tool steel matrix.17. The method of manufacturing of claim 16, wherein the titaniumcarbide is spherical or crushed.
 18. The method of manufacturing ofclaim 11, wherein the tool steel matrix includes iron and one or more ofcarbon, manganese, chromium, cobalt, vanadium, tungsten, silicon,sulfur, nickel, or molybdenum.
 19. The method of manufacturing of claim16, wherein the titanium carbide is present in an amount between about30 and 70 percent by volume with a remainder being tool steel matrix.20. A slurry pump, comprising: a pump housing; a throat bush includingthe slurry inlet inside the pump housing; a volute located inside pumphousing; an impeller located in an open inner radius of the volute; aframe plate liner located between the volute and pump housing; and atleast one cladding surface on at least one of the throat bush, volute,impeller, or frame plate liner, wherein the cladding surface includes awear resistant material disposed in a tool steel. matrix and having amelting point greater than about 3000° C.
 21. A component, comprising: abase member fabricated from white iron; and a cladding surface on thebase member, wherein the cladding surface includes a wear resistantmaterial disposed in a tool steel matrix, and the wear resistantmaterial has a melting point greater than about 3000° C.
 22. Thecomponent of claim 21, wherein the component is a slurry pump component.